Question for those who run dogs..

[The "Juan" 12]

Me n my buddy r looking into running dogs for some hobby fun in the off seasons. His dad used to do it back in the day n was well known for his dogs. He just bought a black mouth cur, n has another black mouth cur mix.. now my question is where would we start? N what is the ideal dog breed I would want? We would be running em in mostly south Texas. Anything helps!!!

Leo

[Hawkins]

#1 thing you need is Time, LAND, and Money. I have a few dogs, my hunting partner keeps a full pack, withing a month two dogs of his have been to the emergency vet. First bill was right at 1200 second one will be that or a little bit over. If you can't afford to take care of them and get them the care they need, you don't need any. I'm not saying this about you, just a major thing I have realized. With a wife and three kids, I don't have the money for those kind of vet bills.

Respect, stay off of other peoples property that you don't have permission to be on. Dogs can and will cross fences in a hurry.

Breed, you need to hunt with different dogs before you pick what you want. Some use hounds, some use curs. I have used mainly cur breeds, never ran behind some hounds, would like to someday though.

Edit: I wasn't trying to preach to you or imply that you wouldn't take care of dogs. Just some things I learned in several years of doing this.

[Hard Knocks]

You'd probably need to run with some experienced dogs/handlers at first.No need in subjecting your new dogs to unneeded punishment and high vet bills during your learning curve

[BeastModeBwhtr]

best advice is run with as many people as you can with as many different breeds as you can. Figure out how you want to hunt: walk, road, cast. Then decide which dogs you liked that your buddies were using and try to find dogs from the same line or maybe one of the guys will have an old "pup trainer" they'd sell you and then get a couple younger dogs to run with it from the same line of dogs.

[HAWG DAWG]

My brother and I have been doing this since we were little kids with my dad and friends. A lot of people go with black mouth curs because they are aggressive and dang good dogs. Invest in you some cut vest and collars and that will help you out a little on the vet bills. Tracking collars are a must. If your running south tx I would not want any kind of hounds because they travel unless where you will be hunting is loaded with hogs. A friend of mine had a bluetick and my friend was the only one that could keep up with the dog. Havent ever hunted with dogos or plotts but heard they were real good dogs as well.
Training: Go buy a 60-100# or trap one and put him in a pen. Let your dogs work on the outside so they know the smell and what they are looking for. Take them every other day or so. Once they get used to it stick them in the pen with them and see how aggressive they are/arent. Be sure your pen is good size. Just kinda have to learn as you go really. Run your dogs with someone who has well trained dogs.
Good luck to you bud

[bsills]

Me n my buddy r looking into running dogs for some hobby fun in the off seasons. His dad used to do it back in the day n was well known for his dogs. He just bought a black mouth cur, n has another black mouth cur mix.. now my question is where would we start? N what is the ideal dog breed I would want? We would be running em in mostly south Texas. Anything helps!!!

Leo

Send mhbaseball a PM, he is the local expert

[TX_Hoghunter]

I always leaned towards catahoulas myself. If your dogs work right there is no need for a cut vest on your bay dogs, catch dogs yes, bay dogs no. Bay dogs only get hurt bad when they made a mistake or get too aggressive. Just look at it as evolution in action. It is not a bad idea to expose the dogs to hogs in a pen first so that they can get the hang of baying a hog. After that it just takes time and exposure. When you first start hunting green dogs you might have to get them fairly close to the hogs before they find them. After a few successful trips the dogs will learn how to look for them.

I would avoid hounds. They will leave the country on you and they give the hogs way to much advance warning that they are headed their way.

Good luck.

-john

[hogmess]

Dont buy other peoples so called finished dogs. Cause there only selling them for one reason and that is they are not any good. I have never bought another person started or finished dog. I either buy a puppy from a well known person or breed my own to get what I want. You can look on Easttexashogdoggers and see how many people are selling so called finished dogs. I have 3 full blooded catahoulas, a full blood mountain cur and a dogo/catahoula. They all wear breast plates cause there all catchy. I want my dogs to stop a hog as soon as possible. I would invest in cut collars at least. Running your pups with someones finished dog is a good way to get them going and working them in a pen as well. just get ready to spend some money like any fun hobby....

[jmac2410]

You'd probably need to run with some experienced dogs/handlers at first.No need in subjecting your new dogs to unneeded punishment and high vet bills during your learning curve

This.

If you insist on getting your own dogs, ask someone to take you and your dogs along with theirs and get a feel for how things are done. Make sure you have a hog dog friendly vet in the area that won't mind coming in on off hours to sew up a dog.

[M16]

Respect, stay off of other peoples property that you don't have permission to be on. Dogs can and will cross fences in a hurry.

Very good advice.

[The "Juan" 12]

thanks a bunch guys!! we r researching alot!! his dad has a bunch of advice so thats a good start, he also has connections to some guys that run em so we will start off with those guys that have done it for a long time. im excited, it looks fun. as for money, we probably wouldnt get into hard core until i know i had the money for all the expenses. but once again, thanks for everything

[Wade_sportsman]

My brother and I have been doing this since we were little kids with my dad and friends. A lot of people go with black mouth curs because they are aggressive and dang good dogs. Invest in you some cut vest and collars and that will help you out a little on the vet bills. Tracking collars are a must. If your running south tx I would not want any kind of hounds because they travel unless where you will be hunting is loaded with hogs. A friend of mine had a bluetick and my friend was the only one that could keep up with the dog. Havent ever hunted with dogos or plotts but heard they were real good dogs as well.
Training: Go buy a 60-100# or trap one and put him in a pen. Let your dogs work on the outside so they know the smell and what they are looking for. Take them every other day or so. Once they get used to it stick them in the pen with them and see how aggressive they are/arent. Be sure your pen is good size. Just kinda have to learn as you go really. Run your dogs with someone who has well trained dogs.
Good luck to you bud

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